“Project Epic Furious: Strait To Hell” is an 8-bit, retro Zelda-styled computer (and cabinet!) game made by The Secret Handshake, who are also infamously known for their other protest art installations, e.g the Best Friends Forever statue at the National Mall, or the golden toilet at the Lincoln Memorial. They installed the Project Epic Furious cabinets at the D.C. War Memorial for public interactions, and also put the game up on a web browser for online play-ability.

This game is a protest piece against Project Epic Fury, the United States and Israel’s joint military operation towards Iran beginning February 28, 2026. It was an incredibly divisive decision amongst the American people, according to the Council of Foreign Relations. The guerilla artists, The Secret Handshake, have a game to make the decision even more divisive. 

Epic Furious is South Park-esque in its humor. Everything is satirical and mocking Trump’s decision to attack Iran. JD Vance in his diva guy-liner is stationed in a couch store, a shirtless and ripped RFK Jr. asks you to go find a vial of measles, and you lose instantaneously if you attempt to hold Melania’s hand. Every twist and turn in the game is a location, character, line or item that’s sure to get a laugh in that ‘this is a little too close to reality but just over the top enough’, kind of way. 

It’s easy to play the game and laugh or cringe, but the reality is that political art usually is speaking some sort of truth. In a barrage of posts on X, multiple verified and real United States government pages have posted montages of iconic pop culture moments in movies, games, and music alongside the horrific images and videos of Iran being bombed. Featuring media like “Iron Man”, “Top Gun”, “Breaking Bad”, and “Spongebob Squarepants”, and with music like AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck” and combat heavy games spliced in like “Call of Duty”, “Mortal Kombat”, and “Halo”. Steve Downes, Master Chief voice-actor from “Halo”, denounced what he called “disgusting and juvenile war porn” and demanded his removal from the posts. 

The real point of the game, beyond the drone strikes and the quippy lines, is once you seemingly complete all the hurdles and go to exit through the Strait of Hormuz, you start right back over at the beginning of the game. The commentary being that any American administration (especially this one) making any sort of progress on the deep woven tensions in the Middle East is not feasible at all. As Esquire puts it, “The infinity loop is the whole gag, and it’s legit the funniest punchline of any political satire in recent memory.”

Is it deep, rich, and in depth with Middle Eastern history and context of their decades of conflict and analysis of the effect of colonial powers on said countries? No, of course not. Is the game a civic appraisal of the United States government’s foreign affairs policies? Definitely not. But, there is something to be said about the punchlines of this game – this administration is making seat-of-their-pants decisions that cost Americans, and of course Iranians, so much.

In an administration that has so many disapproval ratings across the board, poking fun at the stupid things may be the one way the American people feel like they can cope. If a retro Zelda-style game is the way to do that and protest right now, then let the people have their cake; or, more fittingly, their diet coke.